Student Association For International Affairs

A complaint against Bernie Sanders filed by a Hillary Clinton’s super PAC was dismissed by a Federal Elections Committee, which ruled that the misdemeanor of accepting an “excessive” $7,462 of contributions during his bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination was insignificant.

The complaint by Brad Woodhouse, founder of the American Democracy Legal Fund and president of the pro-Clinton super political action committee (PAC) – Correct the Record – was filed on April 8 2016, but only became public on Friday.

The commission made their decision on April 20 2017, telling Woodhouse that they “voted to dismiss the allegation.”

Woodhouse had alleged that Sanders and his campaign treasurer Susan Jackson had received excessive contributions to their campaign. Title 52 of federal campaign finance rules no individual can contribute over $2,700.

The committee found that Sanders campaign indeed received and had not timely refunded excessive sums totalling $7,462.

The committee dismissed the allegation on the grounds that the excessive amount was insignificant compared to the “the tens of millions of dollars,” adding that “almost all” of the excessive contributions were cured within 120 days.

Sanders campaign had vocally ridiculed the accusation back in 2016, telling MSNBC that “just one day after the Clinton campaign said we needed to change our tone, the leaders of their coordinated super PAC, which is funded by millions from Wall Street, filed baseless and frivolous complaints with the FEC. Tells you all you need to know.”

Sanders would lose to Clinton in the Democratic party’s primaries, before Clinton would ultimately lose her party’s bid for presidency to Donald Trump.